Monday, September 03, 2007

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007: The show that found itself

It’s easy to say that SRGMP is a crass show. I’ve always believed it to be much smarter than that. And it took the Laloo Prasad Yadav episode to show us how well SRGMP understands and embraces its tacky loopiness.

An auspicious openingHow about that awesome opening sequence – the one where someone showed up with the lalten – which if you ask me is a reference to its striking resemblance to the globe with the earphones on it. 10 out of 10!

And It’s one thing to put a lame cutout of a tree on the set - but to hang a kati patang on it? Genuis! And all of these little details in the “desh ki mitti ki sugandh” episode kicked off with a rather uncoordinated, entertaining performance by the boys – with Raja Hasan trying hard to prove that the theme was right in his ilaaka by busting some khet-ka-khiladi moves.

A little later the girls showed up. And they made the boys look like ballet dancers so uncoordinated were they! And yet I had much fun.

A show well writtenEarly on the producers of SRGMP – who I can’t congratulate enough for executing this week’s show – must have realized that their guest LPY wouldn’t be able to carry the show to the heights demanded by his scoop appearance. And they were right because LPY – apart from a couple of genuinely chuckle-worthy moments - himself was coma-inducing.

So instead they built a show around LPY. This was a good move because by the time LPY arrived, all he had to was show up and I was entertained!

The Daler explodesRight after those all-arms-and-limbs opening pieces, Daler Mehndi appeared. And even accounting for the fact that I’m a big fan of his terrific voice, you’d have to admit he was the star of the show. He twisted, he jumped, he urged the boys and girls to match his octaves (and in doing so showed their rawness up quite a bit), flirted outrageously with Sumedha, decided Mauli wasn’t worth as much of his time, ignored Poonam and had a couple of his backup dancers hoick him on his shoulders. All this without missing a beat.

In between Head would pop in to give us a blow by blow of LPY’s progress from Delhi to the studio. He would ask the same tired questions about Indo-Pak bhaichara. If this isn’t great TV staging – I don’t know what is!

The race to chato LPYOnce LPY showed up, I was curious to see how the judges would go about chatoing him. Certainly, I thought, the Hauj auph Resamva would take the lead in this. But no! With a speed that would rival The Flash, Bappi was on stage and launching into a sweet song about LPY’s general greatness. So romantic did Bappi sound, and so into it did LPY get, that for a while I thought we might need a rakhee to stop tongues wagging.

And God bless Mauli Dave for asking that question that insinuated that LPY had rigged some numbers in the Railways revenue. This gave us the opportunity to watch Ismail Darbar raise his eyebrows and nod his head trying to look impressed as LPY mumbled through a brief history of the Indian Railways and how he turned it all around.

Finally on to the competitive singing in the shows: yes, I remember there was some.

38 comments:

Manish
said...

I thought the paanwala at the kiosk looked very similar to Subhash Chandra - the Zee honcho. Given the fact that Subhash Chandra's still smokes beedis, I wouldn't be surprised if it was himself.

The petting zoo in the background, wow what detailing! I couldn't help but hope that the critters were constipated!!I was most surprised by daler mehndi who not only sang his own songs with elan but made every song sound fantastic to the same dhol beat! Kudos, put him on your A-list Aspi.

Srgmp producers are clearly geniuses in the art of tackiness. I was also amused when each contestant (Pakistanis included) said how much they admired LPY - it all sounded so phony. And Sumedha took this opportunity to declare that she too is a Bihari.

On to the songs now. I thought Mauli's song selection, Namak, was both hilarious and apt. It was delicious to see the camera zoom on the cops during the song. I expected them to leap of their seats and dance - just like in the original video.

Trivia: According to a friend-of-a-friend who is a Bihari, the song "Namak" from Omkara apparently describes oral s*x. Could this be true? Or is this a aural (no pun intended) Rorschach test? Once I was told about this, the song never sounded the same again.

Texan, Bhojpuri folk has always had its part of double entendres and suggestive similes. And this has its roots in special shows organised in almost every wedding -where the menfolk gather for a session of music performed by troupes - just as in the film Omkara.

The disturbing fact is that more of such songs are now available as legal CD releases. And the lyrics are getting raunchier and a lot more direct. This has a huge market - T-Series earns more with Bhojpuri releases than mainstream bollywood releases.

Yet, I think "Namak" is a well written song. Maybe many wouldn't find it as entertaining as ""Lehenge mein Laden Ghus Gaya".

aspi ur post is more entertaining than the actual show! (which was kinda disappointing). I was rewinding to check out the frame which is ur last pic..haha i bet the editor was sleeping! Amanat said he had heard a lot abt Lalllooo's 'brilliance and bravery' in pakistan. Wow...wht was HE listening to???-Ritha.

Having a significant number of authentic north Indian acquaintances helped me decipher 70 percent of LPY's comments. Note to SRGMP producers: You really ought to have had sub-titles when the man spoke. I ended up liking the man though. He was less of his caricature and more an amused politician than I imagined. The judges (save 4 V) have already outed themselves as Gujarati. Else, we would have had all claiming to be Bihari. And, I was much amused to watch the Daler shamelessly hitting on Sumedha. His music was magic though!

Next time, I want Rabri Devi as special guest and the theme to be Modern Bharatiya Nari.

the show was so eff'ed up.. i felt like i was watching a spoof show not the real deal..

OMG those bodyguards with guns, i swear i saw Mattel on one of them i aint kiddin... the way they tried to create tension and anticipation, it was corntastic.. the helicopter, people throiwng flowers at him, hahaha were Zee totally taking the piss or were they serious?

I didn't know this guy before the show but i totally think he should be in some reality show...

everytime they showed the guy i felt a bit queazy, the hair sticking out of his ears..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Lip synced cacophony of the girls, Raja's "Khatiya Khari" dance,Daler's High voltage flirting, Himesh bhai's relentless dollops of praise for our dear "Onik" {how I wished they tied himu with the goats)...the atmosphere was psychedelic if not surrealistic and it was not necessary to hit the bong when a profound philosophical truth dawned on this poor bong soul. I would like to call it the " Law of conservation of bong luck"...it goes like this...the total quantity of luck earmarked for bongs is a constant, so when one has a field day, it runs out for the other...take for example when Emon is dressed down, Aneek is heaped with parise, when Amartya gets his nobel , Tagore gets his stolen ...and when Leera gets royal treatment from Mrs.Drift, Mrs.BHTB uses the choicest explicits to force me carry out house hold chores.......forget it...just a momentary lapse of reason

This episode was let down in terms of singing. The stage was hilariously designed[Goats!!!! :O]. But then we had to bear Himesh's participant marketing gimmicks yet another time - Love story for aneek; and standing up and murmuring the song for Mussharat - stolid look of Lalooji and videos of participants visits. It irks me that SRGMP, VOI and II3 are not singing competitions but reality shows having singers in it.

A lot of you have noticed that Amanat, Aneek and Sumedha have survived the rounds. But you have to give Manish credit for predicting this. In fact, if they end up being the final three, we'll have to accuse Manish of being on the SRGMP team of producers.

Bthb, that idea of tying Himesh to a goat is priceless. A new sport is born!

Meg, I was a little surprised Mauli didn't pile on "love from america" on Laloo given that Mussarat and Amanat were doing the same.

It's a fight between gharanas, not singers. The final 4 will all be from different gharanas. Next, Bappi's candidate (Mauli or Sumedha) go out. And Bappi gets a big contract for the SRGMP Lil Champs as a judge.

And in the final 3 stage things gets messy. VS are no longer interested in judging shows - they have too many Yash Raj Films in their kitty. Neither will HR or IR bow down. HR wouldn't have forgotten last season's loss. Everyone mentor wants to be in the limelight of the finals.

And the only way out for my fellow producers would be to go for an actual vote count.

Even I think Mauli or Sumedha will be out this week. By their singing skills, it definitely has to be Mauli going out. She was bearable though last week. Public votes for her even when she sings bad so this singing will probably take her to top spot !I have been hoping for past many weeks and will keep hoping this week too that Mauli goes out from the contest.

That goes for ALL the judges...everytime they show a glimpse of them, all i see them doing is chewing like cows. WTF are they eating back there!??! And i think on Saturday's episode, at one point, during a performance...i thought they showed Vishal txting (or sms-ing i should say) on his phone...

girlie girl, I noticed that too. Only Vishal seemed to be using his phone like a laptop, laying it on the desk and punching keys on it. It was pretty funny. I think he was pretending to take notes for the singers.

In response to girlie girl...I think they are all smokers and are chewing gum on the sets, or tobacco.

And, incidentally, during one of my trips to India I read about a group of MBA kids who had come from Amreeka to Dilli to hear LPY talk about how the Indian railway turned a profit . They students were from the not-too-shabby university called Harvard-va.

Haha. Mauli is out...although I think that based on last week's performances Sumedha should have gone. Next week, I think that Sumedha will go and we will have seen the last of Bappi Lahiri's Shuckeeeraah and Brritneeh Sppphhheaars/Baaarby daall (Shakira and Britney Spears/Barbie doll). And we won't have to see him on the set of Saregamapa ever again!! Yay!!! Let's throw a party!!! Now if everyone stops using that irritating word 'mindblowing', Saregamapa will truly be a PERFECT show! :-)

LPY's Railways turnaround is the second most-sought Indian case study in management schools across the world. The first of course is Mumbai's Dabbawalas, who travel from univeristy to university giving lecture in chaste Marathi.

qwitiqqx, yes thank u.. imma send him my resume..he will never wear illfitting clothes ever on srgmp.. I will make sure i'll pay attention to finer details and take his measurement accurately a number of times.. we'll have to get rid of the clothes to get it right..

one thing will then lead to other and you know what they say is the best excercise? *wink* so i can be like his personal trainer also...